Latest news with #BenjaminNetanyahu
Sydney Morning Herald
11 minutes ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
How the first week of the Israel-Iran war unfolded, day by day
Since Israel attacked Iran last week, hundreds of people have been killed in both countries, as they traded waves of missiles and drones. US President Donald Trump has stayed true to the image of a volatile and unpredictable leader as the White House considers whether to engage directly in the conflict. Meanwhile, the Israeli military continues to kill Palestinians in Gaza and is accused of targeting those seeking aid. Here's how the first week of the Middle East war has unfolded, day by day. June 13: Israel attacks Iran Israel attacks Iran in what it says is a targeted campaign to wipe out the Islamic republic's nuclear program. Israeli airstrikes kill top Iranian generals and nuclear scientists, as well as civilians in residential parts of Tehran. About 80 people are killed and hundreds more injured. The attack also blows up negotiations between the United States and Iran over a potential nuclear deal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims Iran is rapidly approaching the ability to build nuclear weapons – something he's said for years. But some media reports suggest Iran is years away from building a bomb, according to US intelligence. Iran launches a salvo of retaliatory drones and missiles against Israel. June 14: Iran responds; Israeli MP warns 'Tehran will burn' Iranian missiles destroy buildings in Tel Aviv and other cities in Israel, killing three civilians and injuring dozens more. An Israeli official says Iran fired about 200 ballistic missiles in four waves. Airstrikes pummel surface facilities at Iran's biggest nuclear enrichment plant, Natanz, the global nuclear watchdog says. These are the types of facilities where Iran is accused of trying to make weapons-grade uranium, a key ingredient in nuclear bombs. Israel's defence minister warns 'Tehran will burn' if retaliatory strikes against Israel continue, as Netanyahu calls on Iranians to overthrow their government. June 15: Civilians killed, oil depot set alight Ten Israelis are killed in Iranian missile strikes, including six in a residential building in Bat Yam, and four in the northern town of Tamra. Israel attacks Iranian energy infrastructure, including one of the country's largest oil refineries, Shahr Rey, the Shahran fuel depot in Tehran and the immense South Pars natural gas facility. The attack heightens the risk to energy infrastructure and sends the price of oil, already inflated since the war began, surging higher. Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis say they have targeted central Jaffa in central Israel's with several ballistic missiles over 24 hours in co-ordination with Iran. The group has been launching attacks against Israel, most of which have been intercepted, in what they say is support for Palestinians in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war there. Some Iranians protest against Israel's attacks on the streets of Tehran, but others celebrate Israel's attacks in hope they would topple the almost 40-year regime of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. June 16: Trump vetoes assassination plot; DFAT plans repatriation Trump vetoes a plan Israel presented to the US to kill Khamenei, according to AP and Reuters. Israel kills the intelligence chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Mohammad Kazemi, and his deputy, in attacks on Tehran, and the IDF blows up surface-to-surface missile sites in central Iran. At least three people are killed and dozens more injured in Iranian attacks on the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, according to Israel's national emergency service, Magen David Adom. Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirms the government is planning repatriation flights for Australians trapped in the Middle East, but says the exact timing would depend on airspaces reopening. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese discusses the conflict with other world leaders before the G7 summit in Canada. June 17: Trump departs G7 early; people flee Tehran Israeli missiles hit Iran's state-run TV station live on air, killing three people and sending the presenter running for cover. Watch it unfold below. Trump leaves the G7 summit early to address the unfolding crisis and cancels his planned meeting with Albanese. The US president joins leaders in signing a statement calling for de-escalation in hostilities which condemns Iran as the 'principal source of regional instability and terror', and declares that the world would not allow the country to have nuclear weapons. Trump also warns Iranians to 'immediately evacuate Tehran', but fleeing civilians are stuck on gridlocked highways exiting the city of 10 million while airports in Iran remain closed. More Australians in Iran and Israel register with DFAT as they seek safe passage home. Two Iranian humanitarian aid workers are killed in an Israeli airstrike, according to the Red Crescent. State media reports 224 Iranians have been killed in hostilities. One of Israel's largest oil companies shuts down all refinery facilities after a power station is damaged by an Iranian missile strike. June 18: Trump brands Khamenei 'easy target'; Israel strikes nuclear base Trump claims to know the whereabouts of Iran's leader Khamenei and suggests the US could kill him easily if it wished to do so. 'We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding,' Trump writes on his Truth Social platform. 'He is an easy target, but is safe there. We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now … our patience is wearing thin.' The US president holds a meeting with his National Security Council in the White House and hints that the US could become more involved in Israel's war. CBS News reports the White House is actively considering joining its ally's attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities. Israel airstrikes damage the highly protected underground enrichment halls at Natanz, Iran's biggest nuclear base. Along with destroying Iran's only uranium-conversion facility in Isfahan, breaching Natanz's fortification counts as a major accomplishment for Israel. Iran's secretive Fordow nuclear base remains undamaged. Iranian state media claims military forces have shot down an advanced Hermes-900 drone before it could destroy any weapons. Iran's state television urges citizens to remove WhatsApp from their smartphones, alleging that the messaging app has gathered user information to send to Israel. WhatsApp brands the advice a 'false report'. Iranian internet access, which had been faltering in the days since the attacks began, plummeted by 91 per cent on Thursday night and is severely restricting communications within the country. June 19: US mulls joining war; Israeli hospital struck Trump tells senior aides that he has approved plans to attack Iran but has withheld a final order to see if Tehran will abandon its nuclear program, the Wall Street Journal reports. Iran's missiles hit civilian areas in Israel, including Soroka hospital in the southern city of Beersheba, injuring people. Nobody is killed in the attack. Other parts of Israel, including Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan, are also targeted. Netanyahu denounces the attacks from Iran's 'terrorist tyrants', which he says have hit the 'civilian population in the centre of the country'. The Israeli military says it has sent 60 warplanes to strike 20 military sites in Tehran. The IDF claims it has killed two Hezbollah commanders in overnight strikes in southern Lebanon. Israel also claims an attack on a non-operational Iranian nuclear reactor in Arak and dozens of other military and government targets throughout the country. At least 639 people have been killed and 1329 wounded in Israeli strikes on Iran, say Human Rights Watch activists based in Washington. The group says it has identified 263 of those killed in Israeli strikes as civilians and 154 as security personnel. June 20: 'Two weeks' for US to join war; Australian embassy evacuated Trump will decide whether the US will intervene in the war within 'two weeks', White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tells reporters. Here's the statement she made on Trump's behalf: Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh warns that US intervention could lead to 'hell for the whole region'. Netanyahu instructs his army to increase the intensity of attacks on Iran after Iran bombs a hospital the day before. The Australian embassy in Tehran is evacuated, and its staff leave the country by road. The evacuation comes as DFAT faces mounting complaints about its communications process from Australians with family in Iran. Foreign Minister Penny Wong announces Australia is sending 'defence assets' to the Middle East to support the evacuation of Australians. She emphasises the deployment is 'to help Australians' and 'not there for combat'. News out of Iran is severely limited due to ongoing internet outages. Israel still killing Palestinians While Israel bombs Iran, it continues to kill Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid. Almost 400 Palestinians have been killed at aid centres since aid deliveries resumed in late May, health officials in Gaza say. Loading According to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, at least 531 people were killed and 2486 injured across the territory between June 11 and 18.
The Herald Scotland
15 minutes ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
No wonder Iran doesn't trust the US. Neither should we
America restored the tyrannical Shah to power. He lived in opulence and lavished enormous sums on vanity projects while his people struggled to afford the basics of life. Eventually, disparate Iranian groups from all across the political spectrum came together and drove the Shah out in 1979. Tragically, the ensuing power vacuum was filled by the clerics: Ayatollah Khameini is in power in Iran today because of what the US did over 70 years ago. Don't forget, either, isolated acts of brutality inflicted by America's powerful military. On 3 July 3, 1988 the USS Vincennes was in Iranian territorial waters when its captain, William Rogers, ordered his crew to shoot down an Iranian airliner that was en route to Dubai; there were 290 fatalities, 20 more than caused by the bombing of Pan Am 103 a few months later. Subsequently, Rogers was awarded the Legion of Merit "for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service as commanding officer… from April 1987 to May 1989". You can see why that might stick in the craw of those affected and why Iran distrusts America, as should we all while President Trump remains in office. Doug Maughan, Dunblane. Read more letters • Once again the Middle East has rapidly descended into the maelstrom of conflict. Britain must at this time studiously avoid supporting any of the protagonists. The times that we have previously intervened in Iran, the outcomes were not good. Back in 1953 both America and Britain decided to engineer the removal of the democratically elected President of Iran, Mosadeggh. He had courageously proposed that Iran's oil belonged to Iran and that Iran should control the marketing of it. However, the British and American oil companies did not see this as desirable. So they supported the imposition of the Shah on the Iranian people who was eventually overthrown. Apart from the Iranian intervention should Britain be supporting Benjamin Netanyahu, who seems to have no respect for the tenets of international law in regard to the conflict with the Palestinians? Sir Keir Starmer needs to show the world that Britain is prepared to take a moral stand in the Middle East. The first action must be to forbid the sale of weapons to any of the protagonists. This takes courage but he needs to show leadership on this matter. Ed Archer, Lanark. • When asked whether he had decided whether the US would be invading Iran, President Trump replied that he had not yet decided, adding: "Nobody knows what I'm gonna do". And we should be worried about an Iranian finger on the nuclear button? Tina Oakes, Stonehaven. A deliberate distraction Benjamin Netanyahu's war with Iran is a deliberate distraction from his Gaza war of mass murder, deliberate starvation and ethnic cleansing of civilians and children. The moment Iran retaliated against Israeli attacks, every western government which had begun voicing token criticisms and issuing token sanctions on Israel switched to saying they would help defend Israel if Iran attacked it. Keir Starmer has moved US military assets to the Middle East and refused to rule out 'defending Israel'. Why should we help a government that is committing crimes against humanity in Gaza feel immune to the results of its own actions, ensuring it will continue both wars, when neither Hamas nor Iran could ever pose a credible military threat to Israel? The Ayatollahs are certainly a dictatorship, and hostile to Israel. But Israel and the US are massively militarily stronger than Iran. And the story that if the Ayatollahs get a nuclear weapon they'll immediately fire it at Israel, ensuring that all of them and their entire country will be wiped out in either the Israeli or US nuclear or conventional counter-strikes, is ludicrous. Certainly they praise 'martyrs' including suicide bombers. They're not so keen on personal or national suicide . Duncan McFarlane, Carluke. Our reputation is at stake Countries, like people, are often judged by the friends they keep. How then has the UK ended up being counted as an ally by the mad dogs of the Middle East, Israel, and insisting on our knees that we have a Special Relationship with the mad dog of the West, the USA under Donald Trump? These relationships are taken to extremes, with a willingness to pitch in with America's follies like the second Iraq war and unwillingness to call out unequivocally Israel's slaughter of Palestinians, Lebanese and Syrians, and to go along with the destruction by Mr Trump in his first term of the workable compromise with Iran on nuclear issues engineered by Barack Obama and supported by us. This cannot stand well with our international reputation, for the blood of other peoples does not seem to matter much to us. We should be grateful for an earlier Labour Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, who despite pressures from America, had the guts to keep us out of the disaster of America's Vietnam war. James Scott, Edinburgh. Donald Trump (Image: Getty) Labour's hypocrisy In January, when the Tories put forward proposals for a national inquiry to be held into the grooming gangs scandal, Sir Keir Starmer voiced his disapproval and accused those calling for one of jumping on a "far-right" bandwagon. When the submission went before the House of Commons, Joani Reid voted against. Just over a month ago, based on the review carried out by Baroness Casey, Sir Keir changed his mind and ordered that an inquiry be held. Lo and behold, the MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven changed hers as well and suddenly became an enthusiastic advocate for an inquiry. So much so that she made the following press statement: "If the Scottish Government does not intend to hold its own dedicated inquiry, we need some clear reasons why, not the vague responses we've had so far." This may sound like double standards to you and me but after all the broken promises to deliver change we should be used to rank hypocrisy on the part of the Labour Party by now. Alan Woodcock, Dundee. A dubious guarantee I note your coverage of the concept of a Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) as a way of achieving the laudable aim of abolishing poverty. Gaby McKay explains the idea and gives some idea of the costs involved, Russell Gunson follows, enthusiastically promoting this benefit ("Call to move toward minimum income guarantee 'urgently'" and "There should be an income level below which nobody is allowed to fall", The Herald, June 18). However, as ever, the devil is in the detail. Firstly, although the word "poverty" is bandied around, what actually constitutes poverty? Mr Gunson defines it as living in a household where income is less than 60% of the UK average. To take an extreme example, if the average UK income was £100,000 per year, then as long as this 60% criterion applied, the poor would always be with us. Secondly, how would it be paid – what mechanisms would have to be set up to ensure its equitable and economical distribution? Thirdly, how would the MIG relate to other sources of income, such as other benefits, paid employment, pensions, dividends and interest? Would it be taxable, or set against these funds? In fact, could it be regarded as the Personal Allowance? I can see Rachel Reeves rubbing her hands with glee if she can start taxing people once their income passes £11,500, rather than the current £12,570. Fourthly, in their desire to talk up the positive aspects of MIG, I wonder if your writers have considered the possibility that the achievement of a modestly comfortable standard of living might, in some cases, reduce the incentives to seek paid employment? Finally, the cynic in me wonders how long it will be before the cry "it's not enough!" goes up, particularly when other figures regarding subsistence have been bandied around, such as the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, which advises a minimum standard of retirement living requires an income of £13,400 (£15,800 for London dwellers) per year Christopher W Ide, Waterfoot.
Mint
30 minutes ago
- Politics
- Mint
Iran-Israel Conflict: Benjamin Netanyahu's 3-decade-long nuke bomb alarm – 'the boy who can't stop crying wolf'
Iran-Israel War: The Israel-Iran war entered its seventh day on June 20. Israeli strikes on Iran, which began on June 14, have so far killed at least 639 people and wounded 1,329 others, a human rights group was quoted as saying by the news agency AP on Thursday. Iran has also retaliated with its missile striking hospitals and near Microsoft office in Israel's Beer Sheva. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been claiming that a nuclear threat from Iran is imminent. 'If not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time,' he said, suggesting the timeline could be months, even weeks. Israel called the operation "Rising Lion," stating it aimed at Iranian commanders and missile factories. "We are at a decisive moment in Israel's history," Netanyahu said, adding that Iranian scientists working on a nuclear bomb, ballistic missile programme and Natanz uranium enrichment facility were targeted in the operation. This is not the first time that Ntanyayu has warned of a nuclear bomb threat from Iran. In fact, he has been talking about this threat for more than three decades. So much so that Iran's former foreign minister Javad Zarif had in 2018 likened Netanyahu to 'the boy who can't stop crying wolf' for his constant public warnings about Tehran's nuclear programme, according to a Reuters report. It was in 1992, when Netanyahu, while addressing Israel's Knesset as an MP, claimed for the first time that Tehran is only years away from acquiring a nuclear bomb. 'Within three to five years, we can assume that Iran will become autonomous in its ability to develop and produce a nuclear bomb,' Netanyayu had said. Here is a timeline of Netanyahu's three-decade long warnings about Iran's nuclear programme. 1992: Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Israel's legislature, the Knesset, as an MP, where he first claimed that Tehran was only years away from acquiring a nuclear bomb. 1995: Netanyahu comes up with a book 'Fighting Terrorism' in which he mentions the nuclear bomb threat from Iran. 1996: Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the joint session of US Congress on July 10. In his address, Netanyahu called on Europe and Asia to join efforts to isolate Iran and Iraq and prevent them from developing nuclear capabilities that he warned would bring catastrophe. 1999: Netanyahu and his Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon discussed the issue of the transfer of Russian nuclear technology to Iran on March 22, 1999, during a trip to Moscow, Russia. 2009: A US State Department cable released by WikiLeaks revealed him telling members of Congress that Iran was just one or two years away from nuclear capability. 2012: Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, Netanyahu brandished a cartoon drawing of a bomb to illustrate his claims that Iran was closer than ever to the nuclear threshold. 'By next spring, at most by next summer … they will have finished the medium enrichment and move on to the final stage,' he said. 2014: Netanyahu addressed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, in Washington, DC, on March 4, 2014 where he urged world powers not to allow Iran to retain the ability to enrich uranium. Netanyahu said in his address that Iran must be stripped of all nuclear technologies with bomb-making potential. 2015: Netanyahu spoke about Iran and the nuclear threat during a joint meeting of the US Congress in the House chamber at the US Capitol on March 3, 2015 in Washington, DC. 2018: Netanyahu presented material on Iran's purported nuclear programme in Tel Aviv on April 30, 2018. You can only fool some of the people so many times. Iran's then foreign minister Javad Zarif, had likened Netanyahu with 'the boy who can't stop crying wolf' for his constant public warnings about Tehran's nuclear programme, and his repeated threats to shut it down, one way or another. "You can only fool some of the people so many times," Iran's then-foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said in 2018 after Netanyahu had once again accused Iran of planning to build nuclear weapons.
SBS Australia
34 minutes ago
- Politics
- SBS Australia
Trump sets another deadline for a decision on US involvement in Iran-Israel conflict
Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts . US White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has delivered a message on behalf of the President Donald Trump. "And I quote, 'based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.' That's a quote directly from the president for all of you today." The message is intended to clarify whether or not the US will become involved in the Israel-Iran conflict. So far, Mr Trump has kept the world guessing on his plans, veering from a proposal for a swift diplomatic solution to suggesting the U-S might join the fighting on Israel's side. That would entail striking Iran's well-defended Fordo uranium enrichment facility, which is buried under a mountain and widely considered to be out of reach but for America's "bunker-buster" bombs. But critics have observed that in the five months since returning to office, Mr Trump has issued a range of deadlines — including those to Russia and Ukraine, as well as to other countries in trade tariff negotiations — only to suspend or allow them to lapse. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the decision is ultimately in the hands of the U-S leader. "I'm determined that we will achieve all our goals, all their nuclear facilities, we can do this, but the decision of the president (US President Donald Trump) whether he wants to join or not again is his decision. He will do what is good for the United States and I will do what is good for the state of Israel. And I must say that up until this moment, everyone is doing, what is called, any help is welcome." The White House has confirmed Mr Trump is still hopeful of a diplomatic solution with Iran. Ms Leavitt says any deal would have to prohibit enrichment of uranium and eliminate Iran's ability to achieve a nuclear weapon. But that assessment contradicts congressional testimony from Mr Trump's intelligence chief, Tulsi Gabbard, in March — who said the U-S intelligence community continued to judge that Iran was not working on a nuclear warhead. The Chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, also confirmed in an interview with Al Jazeera that no such evidence has been detected. "We said very clearly in that report that proceeded these dramatic events and the attack that we did not find in Iran elements to indicate that there is an active, systematic plan to build a nuclear weapon." He also described the attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities — all being I-A-E-A monitored sites — as "deeply concerning". That includes an alleged attack on the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant, condemned by head of Russia's nuclear energy corporation, Alexei Likhachev. "We very much hope that the Israeli leadership will maintain a sober, balanced position in this regard. Because any strike on an operating gigawatt-class facility - and the capacity of the first block of the operating Bushehr reactor is 1000 megawatts - is a catastrophe comparable to, or perhaps even surpassing, all known nuclear accidents in the history of mankind." An Israeli military spokesperson said Israel had struck the site. But a military official later called this statement "a mistake", saying he could neither confirm nor deny that site had been hit. Israel also struck Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz and hit targets close to its heavy water facility at Khondab — formerly known as Arak. Iran's atomic agency says there were no casualties and no risk to the area's residents. In Israel, a hospital in the Israeli town of Beersheba was struck — destroying several wards and wounding 71. IDF Spokesperson Effie Defrin has declared the attack a violation of international law. "Let there be no doubt that the Iranian regime deliberately and maliciously shot at the hospital and a population centre with the aim of harming civilians. This is terrorism carried out by a state and a blatant violation of international law. The terror regime wants to harm civilians and even used today a spreading munition designed to spread the impact." Another attack decimated the Weizmann Institute of Science —a public research university in Rehovot —wiping out years of scientific research. Speaking in front of the ruins of one building, Professor Eldad Tzahor said they have to start again. "Some of the stuff that we have been doing, you know, you can recover and regenerate. But other stuff, basically like samples, like tissue from animals, from patients, we cannot recover this. So we will have to start from the beginning. In terms of how long it will take, it really depends. I would say, on average, it will take us perhaps a year until the lab is up and running again." As the conflict continues, Iran's foreign minister has confirmed he will meet counterparts from Germany, France and the United Kingdom in Geneva today [[20 June]]. The spokesman for the United Nations Secretary General, Stephane Dujarric, said the U-N would not be participating in the meeting, but would be following for any developments. In doing so, he reaffirmed that diplomacy is the best way forward. "As we said yesterday, for the Secretary General for us, it remains clear that diplomacy is the only and best way forward. Let's see what comes out of this meeting, but the fact that there is a dialogue between Iran and those three European Union countries is positive in itself, but obviously we'll have to see what the outcome is." Meanwhile, Australia has closed its embassy in Tehran, and all Australian foreign affairs staff and their dependants in the Iranian capital have been told to leave based on advice about the deteriorating security environment. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is deploying consular staff to Azerbaijan, including its border crossings, to support Australians departing Iran. There are now more than 2,000 Australians who have registered for assistance to leave Iran, up from 1,500 on Thursday. More than 1,200 Australians have also registered for assistance to depart Israel, where the airspace is closed.
India.com
an hour ago
- Politics
- India.com
Netanyahu Reveals Sons Wedding Postponed Due To War: A Personal Cost
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sparked intense criticism for remarks he made outside Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva, comparing his son Avner's postponed wedding to the suffering of the country amid the Israel-Iran conflict. The comments, following an Iranian missile attack that damaged the hospital, have been called tone-deaf by most Israelis as tensions rise. Speaking to the media, Netanyahu compared Israel's current crisis to Britain's endurance during the WWII Blitz, stating, "We are going through a Blitz." He then highlighted the personal toll of the conflict, noting that his son's wedding was postponed for a second time due to missile and rocket threats. Characterising the experience as "painful" for his son's fiancée and his wife, Sara, to whom he referred as "a hero," Netanyahu said, "Every one of us pays a personal price, and my family has not been immune." He recognised the larger tragedy, stating, "There are individuals who were murdered, families who mourned loved ones, I really value that. The remarks outraged others, with critics saying they minimized families' losses due to the conflict, particularly following the Soroka Hospital attack. Soroka Hospital Strike Ramps Up Tensions The Iranian missile attack on Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva overnight damaged severely the entrance hall and several of its departments, including the ophthalmology department. The attack is one of an escalating air war between Iran and Israel, which reached its second week on Friday. Israel targeted Iranian nuclear sites last week, saying they needed to stop Iran from attaining nuclear weapons. Iran, claiming its nuclear program is purely for peaceful purposes, struck back with missile and drone attacks on Israel. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz attributed the bombardment to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stating that the military "knows this man absolutely should not continue to exist" if it wants to accomplish its objectives. In the meantime, European leaders are calling on Tehran to resume negotiations, while the White House confirmed that U.S. President Donald Trump will make a decision within two weeks on whether the U.S. will act in favour of Israel. Appeals For Negotiation During Continuing Conflict With the Israel-Iran conflict continuing to escalate, diplomatic efforts persist in an attempt to resolve the situation. European leaders are urging renewed negotiations with Tehran, with Iran insisting its nuclear program is for peaceful intent. The international community remains in a state of heightened alert as the region prepares for possible further escalation, Trump's soon-to-be-announced decision fueling the uncertainty. Netanyahu's comments have put domestic pressure on high, with most doubting his leadership and tact at this delicate time.
